Welcome to the world little Anderson Daniel! We're so glad to have you amongst our group of little ones. As you grow, you'll realize that your mamma's friends (and your momma) are crazy Southern women. May we raise you to appreciate our eccentricities, embrace your culture and Love your Lord!
We love you!
Just thought this was too cute. Our friends came over Monday to play for a couple of hours. Since it was such a glorious day, we pulled out the jump up. Mommy forgot to tie the valve, and the kids spent about five minutes before I figured it out doing this:
From a distance (notice that the two youngest - AB and Waits - stood off to the side watchign the action... knowing that something was just quite not right.
And Close up... HELP ME!I'm back in the world where you actually get a summer break, 2 weeks at Christmas AND a spring break. So after much conversation, I convinced John to take end of the week off and we headed south to Fairhope! We had a relaxing and fun time.
John spent a lot of time on the bike and running training for the Half Iron Man in May (more on that later) and I spent time with the girls, my mom and my sister. It was nice to be away. I can't pinpoint where my stress generates from (other than deep seeded sin pushing me to try and get it all done) but the Bay was a sweet respite from life in the Ham. It was always a regeneration time preparing me for the final stretch to graduation at the school.
I'm ready for Spring now... I officially have spring fever brought on by the sweet gentle breezes, smell of salt in the air and the aroma of my mom cooking seafood in the house. We came back Sunday and since I've longed for a bowl of gumbo and my feet in the sad on the beach at the house. What a great time we had!
A five year old's version of "Stand together guys and smile for a picture" Hilarious!
In that Mobile is the site of the ORIGINAL North American Mardi Gras, the girls got a bag of throws from friends who are members of a crew. The beads are a huge hit... as are the headbands and stuffed animals. Throw me some beads MISTER!
Of course, Spring means baseball for the boys, so we hit two practices while we were there. Chancellor is the #1 pitcher on his team... not that I'm surprised. The boy has pitching in his blood - many generations back.
The girls enjoyed the scrimmage game for about 27 minutes and then it was over. This is right before the melt-down, but I thought it was precious.. spending time with their daddy in the press box.
Throughout the week we'd miss Anne Bailey and out she'd come from Maw Maw's closet with a new form of footwear. That girl's got the shoe bug plaguing the other women in her family.
Walking down the pier with Daddy... Last weekend, we were building a snowman, wrapped up warmly and fighting over the last drop of hot chocolate. This weekend, it was warm enough to pack a blanket, Ellabee's bike and some bottled water for a Sunday morning at the park. That's something I've always loved about our church... the freedom of a Sunday morning. The rhythm of my childhood was lazy Saturdays - replaced as I grew with ball games and activities and then Sunday morning scrambling to get to church on time and then to Sunday Dinner with the family. While I do miss the ritual of Sunday lunch with my parents and grandparents, death and location effects that more than our church service time....
But there's something to be said for Sunday mornings. They're more relaxing to me than Saturday. It's like we wake up Saturday morning determined to make the most of our weekend. Immediately a list is made of all that we want / need to accomplish and the next thing I know it's Saturday evening and we're halfway through our weekend. So Sunday mornings have become precious to me.
I'm reading a book right now that a friend at church asked me to read and give her my opinion. It's about tradition and the family and how important it is to instill tradition and ritual with our children so that through that they see Christ.... and their parent's reverence for Christ. It's actually pretty good but the one thing I have been having a hard time is that she's from a traditional Christian family background where they get up every Sunday morning and head to worship... and in her pages she's encouraging us to create these type rituals in our family's life... I just have to conclude that she's not encouraging the same ritual that she has of going to church Sunday morning... because frankly, that would really tick me off... Lazy Sunday mornings... a true Sabath... are the Stone ritual.
Anyway, I love our Sunday mornings... Here are some pics from our last one.
Anne Bailey is pretty fearless in the swing... somewhat unsettling.
John's pumped because there's a four story rock climbing warehouse opening in Southside... they're offering lessons and he intends to sign Ellabee up. Has he checked into the prices for equipment? Forget the class cost... we'll see.
Even Daddy got into the action
Am I the only one who thinks this contraption is perhaps the most dangerous playgroup equipment ever? YOu have to understand she's at least 6 feet off the ground.
Back at the house - a makeshift napsite. Looks pretty comfy actually.I have a horrible head cold. I'm talking horrible - horrid - awful - every adjective you could ever think of when describing a head cold. But amid the stuffy head horror, I have been on a pretty good high off cold medicine for the past day. It's perhaps the only time in my life that I actually stop and think and ponder and ... well, stare off into space... and here are some of the things I have been thinking about:
1. Is theology a good thing? I mean, other than causing extreme fractures in the Church and small fractures within individual churches... oh and the CRUSADES... is it a good thing? I think sometimes we get so caught up on theology that we spend more time worshiping it than we do the One it is supposed to point us towards. Now, don't get me wrong - I enjoy a good theological discussion more often than not... but in the sense that theology helps me figure out what I believe and why.... but at what point do we not rely on our theologians and theological thinking and just go to the Word, and the Truth and tell the theology to take a back seat... because isn't that where it belongs anyway? Isn't it secondary?
2. Why, when you have a head cold, do people actually feel like they need to start telling you all these home remedies to try. YES, I've tried the Netty Pot... and use it regularly. YES, I know a hot shower will help. YES, I know that eating something spicy will clear my sinuses... why don't those people just let me (the cold sufferer) just suffer in a lonely silence, feeling pitiful and willing death to come since you feel like you're going to suffocate anyway.
3. Why does my neighbor answer the door naked on occasion?
4. How is it that my husband can fall asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow and why WHY does it take me a good 30 minutes of reading or Suduko to drift off?
5. Will the Obama Stimulus Package really send me and John a check for $30,000 - $65,000 because that's what the email that I was just forwarded said. I mean seriously? Sign me up if that's the case. MY GOODNESS, we wonder how we got in this mess and then we have people who actually believe that their check for $30,000+, a cadillac and a freaking pony will be delivered on a golden chariot as soon as the bill is signed.
OK... my 30 minutes of drifting is up... back to a sleepless night because no air will flow through my nostrils.
If it is, I think it should say, "March roars in like a Snow Leopard". It sure did this morning! While the meteorologists have been saying "snow showers" all week - I NEVER imagined that we'd wake up to a winter wonderland this morning. At 6 AM our door burst open and Ellabee entered the room proclaiming that the snow had come. John decided to get up with her and allowed me to sleep until Anne Bailey was ready for her day to begin.
Daddy and Ellabee's early morning snowman.
The view from our front yard.
Running off to find arms for our snowmaiden.
My Carolina Jasmine was about to be in full bloom. Oh Well.
Our snow maiden (a lady because of our daffodil eyes)
The snowmaiden makers
John, of course, couldn't miss ONE day of training. UGH